video

My wife loves dolphins. We have watched them and chased them along the beach in many locations. We had never done a dolphin cruise though. Partially because she gets motion sickness, and fairly easily! Yes I know, strange for people who travel all the time.

So this recent trip to Destin our 20 yr old daughter was with us. They both spotted the dolphin cruise sign as we were walking through Harbor Walk Village ( see my piece on it in the archives ). Sandy said she wanted to try and the water looked pretty flat so we went for it. Myself and our daughter Kaleigh don’t have issues with that. Heck you could hang us from a ceiling fan lol.
The company was Southern Star Dolphin Cruises. They are well known and seemed to be well thought of. Our trip proved that they should be. It was excellent. The staff was great and the cruise well done. You were able to see much of the marina and harbor area at the start and learn a lot about it ( read my earlier piece and learn more). Beautiful views of both the shore and great open water views as we got out further.
Dolphins are wild so you can’t guarantee seeing them, and the cruise before us apparently didn’t. Fortunately we saw lots. In fact a bunch right up close before we got out of the marina. Almost as soon as we untied.
I’m going to let some video and pictures do the talking and then I’ll come back and give some details about the boat and my two favorite parts!

The boat is an 80 ft glass bottomed vessel. There is a top deck that’s open air and a galley and seating inside. A decent snack bar is in the galley. It makes for a nice two hour ride.
We did the evening one which brings me to my two favorite parts of the trip. Being able to see things along the shore and learn about the area. That was great. The best part was being on the water and watching the sunset on the ocean. Amazing! Here are a few pics of that.

You can get all the details and prices on the website ( link below) but ours was $29 per adult which is great for the experience. Kids and seniors were much cheaper. I loved this outing. For an old fighter that’s been all over, this was so relaxing and yet let me learn a bit. Both good things. Check it out.
If you want to be featured here , have us come check your place out or just get a cheap link here email us today. tompkinscontent@gmail.com and follow @combatsportlife on twitter.
Today’s linkhttp://southernstardolphincruise.com/

Yes I’m a guy ( a hairy beast of a washed up fighter guy at that!) yet I still shop! Especially in cool locations when I travel. OK so mostly my wife, Sensei Sandy shops and I get coffee or a cocktail and people watch. Same thing right??!! A cool set of shops in an interesting place actually gets my interest. Remember I run media/marketing firm and did 20 years on Wall Street, any commerce gets my interest!
Harbor Walk Village is flat cool. From great restaurants and bars sitting right on the water to interesting shops. Yes there are normal places you would know, but there are many Beach/harbor vibe cool places. Nice to just wander around.
Several things that are different make it extra cool. A little area of food trucks that are awesome, including an airstream trailer. Gives the place a great harbor vibe. It is also the home to the Destin fishing fleet, the largest charter fleet in America. You will see Massive fish being brought in. Soooo cool!! You can go on a dolphin cruise starting here. We did that and I’ll be doing an article/review of it before too long. You can also book a pirate cruise here, looked cool if you had young children.

Since most of you are looking this to see pictures and not my incredible writing lol, I’ll start posting them. Catch you after the pic and video jump to talk a bit more about the area. The even more pics and video!!

So you can see it is a very cool area no matter what you like. We are at Harry Ts Lighthouse and Margaritaville there and I’ll do reviews of both in coming weeks. There are a ton of places to eat and sooo many looked great. I’m ready to book my return and just hang out here!! It’s a mix of cool upscale with relaxed old fishing village. Kinda dig it.
It is built with the Emerald Grande complex, condo residence and vacation rentals. Great looking place. I did not stay there but I’m looking into it for the next trip. Their website will tell you about both the complex and the village. Very informative.